Canadian Pro-Lifer Is Jailed Again — and Is Counseling Pregnant Women in Prison (9217)

Mary Wagner used to be the girl next door — with a tomboy streak. Growing up in a home full of boys on Vancouver Island, she became a second mother to the younger ones and also learned to fix a car. At times, it looked like motherhood awaited, and at times, it looked like the convent.

Now it seems like Wagner is headed for a life behind bars.

Wagner, 38, has just been convicted of mischief and sentenced to 40 days in jail for entering a Toronto abortion business and counseling the women there to keep their babies. It’s Wagner’s second conviction since 2000 and her second time in jail in two years. This spring she was actually acquitted of the same offense — but not before she spent four months awaiting trial. She could have been released during the interim before her case was heard, but only if she signed an agreement to stay away from abortion clinics.

This she could not do. “How could I promise to not defend my own brothers and sisters who are defenseless?” she told the Register by phone after her acquittal.

Ironically, Wagner says that there is a lot more willingness to talk honestly about abortion inside jail than there is outside.

“I’ve never been in a social setting where it is easier to talk about abortion,” she said. “The women all know that abortion is about killing babies. Some may say, ‘But what if the mother is on drugs?’ or ‘What about rape?’ but they know it’s a baby. I guess they haven’t been exposed to the language conditioning the rest of society has” experienced.

Given their youthfulness and lifestyle, several of her fellow prisoners usually come into jail pregnant.

When contacted last month at the Vanier Center for Women in Milton, Ontario, she spoke with compassion of her fellow inmates, 80% of whom are behind bars for drug- or alcohol-related crimes. “So many come from very different backgrounds than my own life of privilege. My life would have been very different If I had not had this background.”

‘What’s Inside?’

Alissa Golob, a staffer with Campaign Life Canada who waited on the street outside the abortion facility last December when Wagner entered and was arrested, says her friend gave the women inside gift-wrapped Christmas tree ornaments.

“If they ask, ‘What’s inside?’ she told them to wait and see — just like they should do with their babies.”

After her subsequent arrest, Wagner was bailed out by a supporter, but she was rearrested in the waiting room of another business in August and imprisoned since then. But her 40-day sentence for the December sit-in won’t begin until after her Oct. 5 trial for the August action. Wagner’s hope is that the judge will sentence her to time served in that case.

After three years as a postulant with the Sisters of St. John in the U.S. and France, she maintains her daily devotions, vespers, matins, the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and in the past, these practices have attracted the participation of other inmates.

Her mother, Sarah Wagner, said, “Mary was always about children” and was like “a second mother” to her younger siblings. Working her way through college as a waitress, she quit when her bosses wouldn’t back her decision to refuse liquor to a pregnant woman. “She’s no fanatic,” said the elder Wagner. “But she’s always been morally serious.”

While going through a discernment period with the cloistered Sisters of St. John in France, after her first jail term in 2000, she was assigned to be the community’s driver. When she took members to the doctor, she couldn’t resist counseling pregnant women in the waiting room to have their babies. At least for now, she discerned that this was God’s calling for her.

‘She’s a Blessing’

“She’s an inspiration,” says Golob. “She could be doing anything.”

But Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, said Wagner has an extensive police record and several convictions. “Despite numerous warnings from judges to stop breaking the law, she continues to do so,” Arthur said.

“Judges have little choice but to send people to jail when they do that. Wagner is apparently willing to pay the price, and so she should. Wagner needs to take responsibility for her actions and the harms she inflicts on women.”

What harm is that? Arthur cites at least eight studies that say pro-life picketers
“increase the risk of medical and psychological complications for women about to undergo an abortion.” That’s why Canadian judges and legislators have established bubble zones around businesses, she said.

But Campaign Life spokesperson Leeda Crawford countered, “The distress that patrons of abortion clinics feel is the distress they are supposed to feel when they find out the truth of what they are doing. It’s guilt. Mary’s goal in those clinics is to tell them the truth the staff won’t tell them: that the baby is a person and that having the abortion could harm them too.”

Crawford said she has had abortions herself, and the guilt later pushed her into alcoholism.

In the Vanier Center awaiting trial, Wagner was in the same unit as Linda Gibbons, a great-grandmother who also defies Canadian law to counsel women heading into Toronto abortion businesses. In Gibbons’ case, she has repeatedly defied a 23-year-old injunction that set up “bubble zones” for 150 meters (almost 500 feet) around some of the city’s abortion facilities, in which no explicit pro-life activities may occur.

Wagner said it was “a joy” to be with Gibbons, while Gibbons described Wagner as “a little mother Mary. She’s an evangelical Catholic, whereas I’m an evangelical Protestant. She’s a blessing.”

Comments

I know Mary from the time we spent together in the Community of St. John. She is extremely generous and full of love for all souls, but especially for those who are most vulnerable. I think it’s beautiful that our Lord has now sent a “little Mary” to reach those in prison who are so dear to His heart. I am praying for you, Mary, and for your unique mission.

Posted by Frank Wagner on Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011 11:47 PM (EDT):

When in jail Mary’s address is Vanier Centre for Women Box 1040 - 655 Martin St. Milton ON L9T 5E6.

Posted by Damian on Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 6:56 PM (EDT):

Does anyone else see the perverted sense of “harm” voiced by Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada? Ms Arthur, why do you ignore the other bigger Bubble Zone? The Bubble Zone that you are all too willing to stay clear of; the one so many of your former clients live in for the rest of their lives because of the life, the real life, they with your help, terminated. Quilt, like the life of every fetus is real and your denial can never make the truth go away.

Posted by randy on Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 12:16 AM (EDT):

The population has gone from 1 to 6.5 billion in 250 years. The earths resourses are being used up mostly by the west. Why are there fish farms? How much chemicals are being put inthe the soil to grow are food, with much of it going into the ground water or running into streams! If the stats are right, there are 50 million abortions a year. U can double that with birth control. 10 years another billion people! Cool.

Posted by teddy on Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011 4:02 PM (EDT):

“Posted by enness on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 9:32 PM (EDT):When sharing information becomes a crime, you just have to ask yourself one question: what are they so afraid of?”

==my reply: They are afraid of THE TRUTH!

Posted by John Mac on Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011 9:41 AM (EDT):

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,. Please assemble a list of what we can do to help the injustice against Linda Gibbons, Mary Wagner and others who protect the unborn and their Mothers.

Posted by enness on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 10:32 PM (EDT):

When sharing information becomes a crime, you just have to ask yourself one question: what are they so afraid of?

Posted by Gary on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 8:16 PM (EDT):

I have done time myself for sitting in front of an abortion clinic door years ago, but now I have small children. I would like to send some money to help support this marvelous woman. How can I contribute?

Posted by Kevin Rahe on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 5:48 PM (EDT):

Winnie Green, I say that what society needs to embrace even more than women who have an unplanned pregnancy is unplanned pregnancy itself. I don’t know Canada’s relative statistics, but in the U.S. it is said that half of all pregnancies are “unplanned.” While that statistic is often cast in a negative light by the media, it doesn’t take much figuring to see that even if half those pregnancies are currently ending in abortion, eliminating all of them would have a serious deleterious effect on our culture and our economy. In other words, if all pregnancies were “planned,” our society would collapse!

Posted by Winnie Green on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 5:00 PM (EDT):

Until society embraces women who experience a unplanned pregnancy and so the joy of adoption and supports single mothers with daycare education and understanding jobs and plan old friendship. Let’s stop judging women in using terms like Un-wed mother and illegitimate child or out of wedlock. Until that time comes abortion clinics will stay in business. Our government needs to support women who seek counseling through Planed Parenthood.

Posted by Marisol on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 2:06 PM (EDT):

Is there an address where we can write to her? She will be in my prayers!

Posted by LAJ on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 12:59 PM (EDT):

May God shine His Face upon Mary Wagner, her supporters and all who minister to those who face abortion!!!!! I wish someone as loving and compassionate had done the same for me!!!!!!!!

Posted by Robert Stevenson on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 12:19 PM (EDT):

Mary Wagner is my hero and an inspiration to the cause of life! “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me”- Jesus Christ, the Author of Life

Posted by teddy on Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 11:27 AM (EDT):

It’s ironic that her jail time is for “40 days.”
What a shame. Someone out there that wants to educate women about alternatives to abortion gets arrested? That is so not right.

Praise be to God! Lord, may you continue to bless Mary Wagner and all who support her with your Holy Spirit, for that is what being a Catholic Christian is all about. It’s not just about believing in Jesus Christ, but on acting upon that belief for: “...I was in prison, and you came to visit me.” (Mt 25:36c) Alleluia!

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